Rapidly Share Challenges and Expectations with Impromptu Networking

Impromptu Networking allows a group of any size to form personal connections and share ideas in less than 20 minutes. It invites everyone to participate from the very start and share stories, challenges or experiences with each other.

You can tap a deep well of curiosity and talent by helping a group focus attention on problems they want to solve. A productive pattern of engagement is established if used at the beginning of a working session.

Loose yet powerful connections are formed in 20 minutes by asking engaging questions. Everyone contributes to shaping the work, noticing patterns together, and discovering local solutions.

Four Structural Elements

1. Structuring Invitation

• Ask, “What big challenge do you bring to this gathering? What do you hope to get from and give this group or community?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

• Open space without obstructions so participants can stand in pairs and mill about to find partners

3. How Participation Is Distributed

• Everybody at once with the same amount of time (no limit on group size)
• Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute
• Invite people to find strangers or colleagues in groups/functions different from their own (in pairs)

4. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

• In each round, 2 minutes per person to answer the questions. 4-5 min. per round
  Three rounds

Purposes and Objectives

• Not only is it a good way to ‘break the ice’, it also doubles as a clever way to use the collective brainpower of the group to rapidly identify patterns
• Initiate participation immediately for everyone provided the questions are engaging
• Attract deeper engagement around challenges
• Invite stories to deepen as they are repeated
• Help shy people warm up
• Affirm individual contributions to solutions
• Emphasize the power of loose and new connections
• Suggest that little things can make a big difference

Tips

• Use bells (e.g. tingsha) to help you shift participants from first, to second, to third rounds
• Ask questions that are open-ended but not too broad or difficult
• The power of this format lies in the three conversations that people will be having, and what they learn from that
• 4 minutes per round is usually enough. But if the conversations die down before that, don’t wait until the timebox expires but start a new round. This keeps the energy up
• Write down the question(s) on a flip chart as a reminder
• Ask questions that invite participants to shape the direction of their work together
• Use Impromptu Networking before you begin meetings and conferences
• Have three rounds, not one or two

Examples

• For sparking deeper connections on the first day of class, college professors have asked their students, “Why did you choose to attend this class? What do you want to learn from and offer to members of this class?”
• For jump-starting a cross-functional, interdisciplinary learning session